Mass adoption of Bitcoin is getting closer and closer with each passing week, as more companies are beginning to help make it possible. PrestaShop is an e-commerce content management system (CMS) used to fuel over 250,000 websites around the globe. The CMS now allows shop owners to begin accepting Bitcoin payments using the Lightning Network, thanks to a partnership with OpenNode. When you tally up the number of sales made every month from PrestaShop’s impressive number of clients, you can see why this partnership is a huge deal for the crypto community.
Plug in your #PrestaShop business and start accepting #bitcoin today!https://t.co/2EcgCIndtj
— OpenNode (@OpenNodeCo) October 30, 2018
Lightning Payments Becoming More Mainstream
Crypto payments don’t have to be expensive or take a long time to process. While many people around the globe slate Bitcoin’s fees and 10-minute transaction time, the Lightning Network manages to solve both issues. By taking payments off-chain, fees are drastically reduced and so too are the transaction times. This has led to the Lighting Network being used in all manner of products, from vending machines to Excel – yes, you can actually accept Bitcoin in Excel thanks to the Lightning Network.
Does That Mean PrestaShop is Killing the Planet?
The short answer is no. Last week there were some sensational headlines that the mass adoption of Bitcoin will cause global warming to worsen. However, the reports that began appearing following a report by journal Nature Climate Change are simply trying to frighten people. While Bitcoin mining – and all other mining processes for cryptos for that matter – use a lot of power, most of these operations are using low-cost and green energy that have virtually no carbon footprint. Iceland is using geothermal electricity and America is harnessing hydroelectric power for its mining farms.
In fact, the current banking and financial system creates a larger carbon footprint than the entire crypto industry. Think about all the paper, the thousands of banks, the ink used in notes, the fuel used to transport fiat currency around. Once you take a step back and actually think about it, you can quickly see that the crypto industry is actually better for the planet in terms of carbon emissions – so stop blaming Bitcoin and start blaming your bank.
As more online stores begin to accept crypto payments, we will start to see cryptos becoming more mainstream. There are already reams of sites out there that you can checkout using crypto, and PrestaShop is simply jumping on the bandwagon. Having more places to spend cryptos means people have a purpose for them and this is what fuels mass adoption.
